own lives in our fens; and now that Ivo TailleBois hath so often emptied our granaries, and hath crippled or carried off all our cattle, we have the protecting shield of poverty. There is little to be got here but bare walls, and Ivo, having the grant of the neighbouring lands from the man they call King William, is not willing that any robber but himself should come hitherward. His mansion guards the causeway, and none can pass thereon without his bene placet. But, oh Elfric! what of the demon-possessed Ivo? Rests he not satisfied with the last spoils he made on our poor house? Abides he not true to his compact that he would come no more, but leave us to enjoy his king's peace and the peace of the Lord? Heeds he not the admonition addressed to him by Lanfranc? Speak, Elfric, and be quick, for methinks I hear the step of the cellarer by the refectory door."

"The strong keep no compact with the weak," responded the novice, "and these lawless marauders care little for William their king, less for their archbishop, and nothing for the Lord! While I was hid in Crowland Abbey waiting for my Lord Abbat's letter, I heard from one of the friars who can interpret their speech, that some of these Normans were saying that Ivo Taille-Bois wanted the snug nest at Spalding to put cleaner birds into it: that Ivo had made his preparations to dispossess us. And lo! as I came homeward through the fens, and passed as near as I might to the manor-house which Taille-Bois made his own by forcibly marrying the good Saxon owner of it, I heard the flourish of trumpets, and anon I saw, tramping along the cause way towards the well-garrisoned manor-house, forty Norman men-at-arms!"

"Not so, surely not so, Elfric," said the superior in a quake, "danger cannot be so near us as that!"

"His eyes must have deceived him," cried all the brothers.

66 Nay," said the youth, "I saw, as plainly as I now see the faces of this good company, their lances glinting in the setting sun, and their bright steel caps and their grey mail, and

"Fen-grass and willows," cried the superior, who seemed determined not to give credit to the evil tidings, "what thou tookest for spears were bulrushes waving in the breeze, and thy steel-caps and grey mail were but the silvery sides of the willow-leaves turned upwards by the wind! Boy, fasting weakens the sight and makes it dim!"

"Would it were so," quoth Elfric; "but so was it not! I heard the trumpet give challenge from the battlements-I heard the other trumpet give response-I heard the tramping of many hoofs along the hard solid causeway; and, creeping nearer to road, I saw lances and horses and menand they were even forty!"

"It cannot be," said one of the monks, "for, when he made his last paction with us, Ivo TailleBois swore, not only by three Saxon saints but eke by six saints of Normandie, that he would do us and our house no further wrong."

"The senses are deceptious," said another of the brotherhood.

"The foul fiend, who often lurks in these wildernesses and plays fiery pranks in our fens, may have put it into this youth's head to mar our peace with false alarms;" quoth another monk.

"Say warning, and not false alarm," rejoined

66

Elfric rather petulantly. If you will not be warned, you will be surprised in your sleep or at your meals. Those forty men-at-arms cannot come hither for other purpose than that of finishing our ruin and driving us hence. As sure as the sun riseth they will be here to-morrow morning.” "The boy chafes, and loses respect for his elders," said the monk who had last spoken.

"Let him sup with the cats!" cried the superior. At this moment a bell was struck below; and at the signal the novices and lay-brothers ran from the door at which they had been listening, and the superior, followed by the monks, and at a respectful distance by the reproved and vexed novice, hobbled down stairs to the refectory.

The aspect of that hall, with its blazing woodfire, abundant tapers and torches, and well-spread tables, intimated that the superior's account of the poverty and destitution to which Ivo the Norman had reduced the house was only figurative or comparative. That good father took his place at the head of the table; the monks took their seats according to their degree of antiquity; the novices and the lay-brothers sat below the salt; and poor Elfric, submissive to his penance, sat down cross-legged on the rushes in the middle of the floor, and in the midst of all the cats of the establishment, who, I wist, knew as well as the monks the meaning of the dinner and supper bell, and always trooped into the refectory to share the fragments of the feast. One of the novices ascended a little pulpit raised high in one of the angles of the hall, and the superior having blessed the good things placed before him, this young novice read from the book of Psalms while the rest of the company ate their

meal. After all had been served, even to the meanest of the lay-brothers, Elfric's bread and meat and his stoup of wine were handed to him on the floor-and then was seen what it signified to sup with the cats, for tabbies, greys, blacks, and whites all whisked their tails, and purred and mewed, and scratched round about him, greedy to partake with him, and some of the most daring even dipped their whiskers into his porringer, or scratched the meat from his spoon before it could reach his mouth. Nevertheless the young man made a hearty meal, and so, in spite of their fears and anxieties, did all the rest of that devout community. As grace was said, and as the reader was descending from the pulpit to do as the others had done, the superior, after swallowing a cup of wine, said rather blithely, "Now trim the good lamp and feed the fire, close the door, and place seats and the reading-desk round the hearth." As the novices and lay-brothers hastened to do these biddings, Father Cedric whispered to the superior, 66 Would it not be fitting to shut out the young and the unordained, and deliberate by ourselves, maturi fratres?" "No," replied the superior, "we be all alike concerned; let novices and lay-brothers stay where they are and hear the words of our Lord Abbat. If danger be so nigh, all must prepare to meet it, and some may be wanted to run into Spalding town to call upon all good Christians and true Saxons there to come to the rescue." Then turning to the youth on the rushes he said, "Elfric the messenger, thou mayest rise and take thy seat in thy proper place: I cannot yet believe all thy news, and thou spokest when thou oughtest not to have spoken; but these are days of tribulation, and

mischief may be nearer than we thought it. Yet, blessed be God! that provides food and drink for his creatures, and that makes the bounteous meal and the red wine revive the heart and courage of man, I feel very differently now from what I felt before supper, and can better bear the weight of evil news, and more boldly face the perils that may lie in my path." By words or by looks all the brotherhood re-echoed this last sentiment.